I had been planning to get XPEL paint protection film on the bumper, fender, hood (18 inches), mirrors and fog/head lights. I can do this for $750 and it has a 10 year warranty. This XPEL is self-healing which means I guess it does better with rock chips or whatever.

Now I'm having second thoughts. I only drive 8000 miles a year but the rock chips on my last SUV drove me nuts. Only the grill was chipped up, not the hood or any other part of the SUV.

Even though this is one of their more basic packages it does feel like a little bit of overkill but I know you have to go with their precut packages.

What are your thoughts? I mentioned I was doing this to a friend of mine and was labeled obsessive. My friend said, why not just pay $50 and get the rock chips touched up?

I would not consider applying the film myself.

Please help. I'm scheduled to go in tomorrow but am now thinking about canceling it.

Instead of $750 film you can use half that and buy a porter cable and all the necessary pads and products to remove most of the damage that might occur and some touch up paint for the deeper damage. Thats too expensive imo

I seriously hope you guys don't think touch up paint actually does a good job of repairing chips. In most cases touch up paint looks worse than the chip itself.
Since you said the chips drive you nuts I say absolutely go for it. Maybe not the full $750 kit, but for sure the bumper, hood, and fenders. That way the paint is taken care of and worse case the other parts can be replaced if need be such as the grill.

I seriously hope you guys don't think touch up paint actually does a good job of repairing chips. In most cases touch up paint looks worse than the chip itself.
Since you said the chips drive you nuts I say absolutely go for it. Maybe not the full $750 kit, but for sure the bumper, hood, and fenders. That way the paint is taken care of and worse case the other parts can be replaced if need be such as the grill.

What he said... Touched my truck up with Toyota "super white" touch up paint.. Doesn't even match..

Now with this film stuff can you tell it is there when waxing and stuff??

I have the clear bra but still got three rock chips on the hood. I was able to touch them up using PXR Brilliant Black with paint thinner, letting it dry. Then applying clear coat with paint thinner and keeping it flush with the top of the clear coat. Came out really well. You just have to be careful and do a good job.

the polisher is to remove small scratches from road debris and help with the final touch up paint work. i have used mine dozens of times to make a perfect touch up job using only a little bottle of mopar touch up paint and a small bottle of clear. after it dries i smooth it out with the polisher and it looks brand new after i am done with it.

Do the clear bra but skip the bumper as it most expensive piece to cover and the part most likely to get damaged another way.

Doesn't make sense to protect part of the front and not all of the front. Why would you spend money to keep the hood chip free, but not the bumper where thats going to get most of the chips?

Quote:

Originally Posted by SvenskaJeepGuy

the polisher is to remove small scratches from road debris and help with the final touch up paint work. i have used mine dozens of times to make a perfect touch up job using only a little bottle of mopar touch up paint and a small bottle of clear. after it dries i smooth it out with the polisher and it looks brand new after i am done with it.

I used to be a professional detailer, I am very well versed in what is and is not possible when dealing with a polisher. There is no way an orbital porter cable polisher will have any impact blending paint used as a touch up. In order to do that you would need to wetsand. You can't even accomplish that with a rotary polisher.

It may look "perfect" to you, but there is absolutely no way its a perfect repair. Its just not physically possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdsmitty10

Now with this film stuff can you tell it is there when waxing and stuff??

Yeah you can see an edge typically. What you want is a custom install, not something thats done from a kit, reason being you'll have fewer seams. Some people also cover the whole hood and the whole fenders to avoid an edge, but thats obviously more expensive.